Cambria man pleads guilty to felony DWI

LOCKPORT – A Cambria man with two previous driving while intoxicated convictions likely will avoid jail after he accepted a plea deal in a third DWI case in Niagara County Court today.

Donald J. Rolfe, 54, of North Ridge Road, pleaded guilty to felony DWI charges, but based on his hardship case County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas said she was willing to agree to interim probation when he returns for sentencing on Dec. 12.

Rolfe’s attorney, Joseph F. Townsend, said that his client was the sole provider for a mother who has dementia, a sister, and a seriously ill brother who he has been transporting for cancer treatments.

Rolfe was pulled over by Niagara County sheriff’s deputies on Youngstown-Wilson Road April 29 and found with a blood-alcohol content of 0.20 percent. In 2006, the most recent previous case, he was convicted of a DWI in the Town of Porter and was put on probation and counseling for three years. Farkas asked why he was pulled over again.

“The stress level got to me. I lost track,” Rolfe said of his drinking.